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Luci was too worn out to fight any longer. Lunacogita was buried somewhere unknown in the rubble. Even if, by some miracle, she found it in all that mess, Luci didn’t think she could use it again now that she’d reached her physical limit. Even if Wip’s enma had removed the effect of her fatigue, she was still far too worn out, physically and spiritually. Her body was still too heavy.
But most importantly, she didn’t want fight Wip.
She knew this Hyena wasn’t Wip, and if she didn’t stop him, he was probably going to kill all those people. He hadn’t said so, but it was a simple deduction: he had fun bullying the weak.
Even so, she knew Wip was still there. She couldn’t hurt him. Not again. Not after he’d saved her.
She drew on her enma. Her consciousness was fading in and out but she pushed on. Carefully, she laid threads of conform into an anti-gravity meld that she placed over her arms, upper body, and head. Then Luci raised herself up, wrapped her arms around Wip’s neck, and hugged him.
Wip—Hyena froze. Slowly, he lowered his head and looked her in the eye. Luci wasn’t sure what she saw in those eyes. A mix of fury and pain? Like two different sets of emotions rolling over each other in a tussle for control.
“I… I don’t know what has happened to you, Mr. Wip,” Luci said, raw emotion gripping her voice, “but whatever it is, you have to fight it! I—I know it’s selfish, but I’m happy that you caught me, I’m happy that you helped me when nobody else would, and I don’t want to go back to being all on my own, so please!”
She buried her head in his chest. Her forehead pressed against bare skin, exposed by tears in his shirt. Her skin prickled akin to brushing a statically charged blanket. Just what level was his passive enma at for it to cause an effect like that without melding?
“Please come back to your usual self,” she sobbed. “And we can go explore the dungeon every day and bring back lots of nice things for Ms. Stella.”
Seconds passed. Luci prayed for a miracle, that this desperate gambit would somehow work. Her hopes were dashed when Hyena spat out a laugh.
“Luci, Luci, Luci,” he admonished her. “Mr. Wip isn’t going to—”
He froze. Luci squeezed tighter. Then she heard Wip say under his breath, “Okay.”
His eyes rolled. “Urgh! That’s my tongue you’re using—”
“I made a promise.”
“And? Promises are dumb. Remember? Chian promised us she’d always be there. How’d that—”
“Put your collar on, now. It’s going to be okay.”
“Hey! This is boring. Let’s go have—”
“The Hyena, won’t you. He’s safe inside his cage.”
“Give me my body back! It’s mine! You stole—”
“Come see the sun, oh, silly one. She’ll keep you nice and warm.”
“Shut up! I hate this rhyme. I hate—”
“The Hyena’s in his cage, now. He’ll hurt you no more.”
Long, drawn out silence. Luci waited with her breath held, with her head buried in Wip’s chest. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw the flicker of his collar as it switched back on.
Luci pried her head from his chest and stared up at him. Wip was watching the street with a sombre expression, so unlike his usual self. Yet she knew it was him. There was a gentleness to his touch. He felt warm, safe. And her stomach had stopped turning loops on her.
“Mr. Wip?” she said, cautiously.
He looked down at her, then flashed a grin missing half its teeth. “Oh, wow. Stella is going to be so mad when she finds out what we did.”
Luci let out a long groan. “Under normal circumstances I would laugh, but I’m really sore right now, so…”
“Oh, woops!”
Prickling enma ran through her body once more. Luci sighed in relief as her pain numbed and her body felt lighter. She released her meld and collapsed into Wip’s arms. “I was really scared, you know?”
Wip’s smile slipped for a moment. “Me too.”
They stayed like that for a while. They were both tired and. Luci was also happy to be pampered like this. She wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. Slowly, Luci’s body grew lighter and lighter until she could finally raise her legs and arms without issue, though her physical fatigue made it difficult. It seems Wip’s healing couldn’t fix exhaustion, or cure thirst.
“I think I should be right to stand now,” she said.
Nodding, Wip picked Luci up in his arms, stood, then placed her gently on her feet. Her legs were still unsteady, and she held onto his arm for support.
“Oh, Luci,” Wip said.
He pulled a white beanie with rabbit ears from the side of his pants. It had long ears attached to the top and three studs on its side. Luci recognised it immediately as having belonged to the woman that had impersonated Stella. After giving it a quick dust off, Wip placed it on Luci’s head.
“Oh, I see!” Luci said. “I can use this to hide my hair. Thank you. I—I don’t know what to say.”
Wip grinned his approval. Then he took a step back, clasped a hand over his fist, and bowed. “Honour to work with the strongest lambaster ever!” he said.
Luci stared at the wreckage around her. The rubble that circled them was from buildings that had toppled. That was her doing. The street was a mess. Again, her doing. And the only reason nobody was dead, as far as she could tell? Actually, that was Wip’s doing. She’d thrown her might around and Wip had picked up the slack. Which could only mean one thing.
On shaky legs, Luci pressed her arms firmly to her side and bowed as low as she could, which wasn’t very far at all. “And I would be honoured to work with such a wonderful support,” she said.
They stayed like that for a few moments. Neither wanted to be the first to move. They both felt like the other was more deserving of their respect and therefore should be the first to raise their head.
Then a shout rose from down the ruined street, which they both recognised as Flak’s voice.
Wip raised his head. “I’m thirsty,” he said.
Luci chuckled. “Me too. Shall we leave?”
Wip trudged over to a pile of rubble and, with a few sparks of enma running along his body, he casually lifted a block of concrete. Underneath it lay Lunacogita, glowing brightly into the night. He grabbed it, dropped the concrete block, which caused a geyser of dust to erupt into the air, then grabbed a tattered curtain from the mess to wrap around the staff. He offered it to Luci.
Rather than take her staff, however, Luci wrapped herself around Wip’s arm. Wip stared at her slack jawed but didn’t protest, and Luci was more than grateful. She felt warm and safe, and she never wanted Wip to leave her again. Shrugging, Wip led them home.
As they stumbled out of the Shanties, Luci put on the rabbit-eared beanie but decided to save the binding for another day, when she wasn’t so tired. She stuffed her hair into the beanie and they walked by the light of the setting moon.
Sirens blared behind them as the town guard showed up to investigate the damage. Luci and Wip were long gone by then, walking back over the Katarasi bridge and towards the Pot, side by side.
As they walked, Luci remembered a moment from years ago, when she was still so small that she had to climb up onto her bed. The curtains were drawn, and the moon had just settled down for the night, which meant she was dreadfully sleepy.
Her bedroom door creaked open and light leapt into the room. It was a girl smaller than her that tip-toed in, hugging a stuffed rabbit to her heart. The girl closed the door behind her and crept up to Luci’s bed. Without asking for permission, she slipped under the covers.
“Vesi, you can’t be here,” Luci whispered. She shuffled closer to her sister regardless.
“But I’m scared of the dark,” Vesina said.
At that point in time, Luci’s hair had already gained some luminescence. It glowed as gently as starlight, just bright enough to ward off the darkness. Vesi’s hair was also gaining luminosity but compared to Luci’s, it was the like the space between the stars.
Luci let out a small groan. “Mother says she doesn’t want you near me after training in the moonlight. She says I won’t develop my path properly.”
Vesi cracked an eye open. “Do you want me to go away?”
“No,” Luci said. “Just promise that you’ll go back to your room once the sun comes up.”
“I promise.”
Luci took her hand. They stayed together like that for the night, with Luci’s hair scaring the night away. When Luci woke the next morning, her sister had left for her own room. She left behind her stuffed rabbit, and an unspoken promise to return every night after that.
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A note from PistolShrimp
Gul take it, The Pauper Princess arc is almost done!
All we have left are two more chapters which will be a wind down / conclusion to this arc.
I think now would be a fantastic time to explain what's happening for the inter-arc break. Fungeoneer will be returning on Monday 3rd October.
The extension is partly because I was sick, but it's also because I want to give myself some extra time to work on building a backlog and maybe even getting a Patreon running. Hopefully it doesn't feel too long!
Anyway, if you haven't yet, please consider throwing me a rating or review. These help tremendously with all the algorithms and it would mean the world to me if more people could read this story. Thank you so much!
